Just a Nameless person
by Gwntan12
Summary: "This isn't even my world, and yet I'm fighting so hard to keep it safe. Why?" It should have been so easy, right? Find a way home, and forget this ever happened. So where did he go wrong? Why, why has he started to care for this world and it's inhabitants, even if it isn't his? Edward Elric won't ever know.
1. Arc 1-Just a Nameless person

The boy with the golden hair and eyes with the bright red coat had a small businesses, traveling from one town to another, lending his skills for a small price. At first, he might have seemed unremarkable, because of his young features and his short stature that made look like a twelve hear old, when he was, in fact, fifteen. The doctors said the last person to mention his short the boy's short stature would have his ears make full recovery in about six months. But, despite everything that made him seem like an ordinary person, anyone who thought that would have immediately changed their minds after witnessing his incredible ability of fixing anything that's broken, no matter how damaged, as long as all the pieces were there.

He never gave his name, and no one knew where he came from. When asked, he would have just gotten a faraway look in his eyes, before responding in a mysterious manner. "Some were far away, which I'll never see again."

He never seemed to carry much, just a small backpack and a sliver pocket watch with a symbol engraved on its surface.

Once again, when asked about the pocket watch, he would reply, "It was just a reminder of a promise, that I hope I can one day keep."

And then, after he finished his business, he would be gone once more, and the people he helped, would usually never see him again.

'Repairman', 'Sorcerer', 'miracle worker', He was called all that, and more. But never, 'Hero of the People'. It made sense of course, in this world, there was no Amestris. No military, no Homunculi and finally, no Fullmetal Alchemist.

Yes, he was just another nameless person in this world, helping other people, like he had always done, with the hope he would one day be able to keep his promise to his little brother.


	2. Ambush

A cold drink. That was really all wanted right now. Firstly, why were the gaps between each town so long anyway?! Someone could possibly die from thirst since there were one to zero drink stalls at the road which was about thirty kilometres long from one town to the next! The boy groaned, and pulled the hood of his bright red coat further down his face. So hot... it was this hot back in Liore but, that was in the middle of a damn desert! He was walking through a forest, not a desert! So, why did it feel like the place was burning?!

"I think my brain has been fried." The boy groaned, but not out of tiredness, but out of heat. If he was already tired... he shuddered to think what his teacher would have done to him. Well, it would have been safe to assume that she would have dragged him off for more tortu- um, training.

Teacher... a sad smile crossed his lips. How long had it been since he saw her? It felt like an eternity. He missed everyone, especially Al...

Tilting his head backwards to look at the sky, and letting sunlight hit his golden eyes, he said to himself quietly, "Stand up, and keep on walking. I've got two strong legs, so I should get up and use them."

The hood of the boy's coat slid back further to reveal the face of Edward Elric.

Edward laughed quietly at the irony of his own statement. He did have two legs to stand on, but it didn't mean he was standing on his own.

Continuing his journey to the next village, he followed the dirt path, unaware of the danger ahead.

LINE BREAK

"Is that him?" One of the ninja asked the leader of the group. The leader, who was a tall young man about 29 years old, with black hair hanging over one of his eyes. His most noticeable feature however, was the long scar running down the side if his face. On his forehead, was a slashed forehead protector, signifying a rouge ninja. He looked up from the description of the boy their employer was looking forward, before nodding his head once. "Yeah, that's him alright. Take Shin and Kinto and make contact by the front. The rest of us will ambush from the back."

The boy, who was obviously short for his age, was clearly oblivious to the ninja around him. He either was an idiot, or he had little, to no ninja skills. The leader briefly wondered about the reasons his employer had for the capture of the blonde boy, before shrugging it off. He had no business in the affairs of his employer. All he needed was the money.

His subordinates made contact with the target, and the boy scrutinised them with narrowed eyes. He was already suspicious of them and had slipped into a defensive stance, one that looked made him look deceptively relaxed.

"Come with us, and we won't have to hurt you."

The boy scoffed, and glared at them with his molten golden orbs. "Sorry, but I don't listen to anyone without an Equivalent Exhange."

One of his subordinates sneered. "Well, you asked for it, shorty."

Well, they definitely were going to learn the meaning of the phrase, 'If it's small, it doesn't mean its harmless'. The hard way.

LINE BREAK

There was a miniature explosion as Edward's almost non-existent fuse blew. The volcano kind of blew. And so, the poor rouge ninjas facing Edward had absolutely no chance of defending against him. They not only learned about the truth in previously mentioned phrase, but also learnt how it was actually possible for them to have their asses handed to them in exactly two seconds by someone younger, shorter and probably more inexperienced then all three of them.

"SHORTY?! CAN A SHORTY DO THIS?! WHAT ELSE YOU GONNA CALL ME?! HALF-PINT, BEANSPROUT, MIDGET?! I'M STILL GROWING YOU DAMN IDIOT NINJAS!"

Apparently, no one knew it was possible for someone to tell that loud either.

After they three rouge ninjas were nothing more then a pile of goo on the floor, due to getting bashed up many times, courtesy of Edward, he dusted his hands off the front of his red coat and prepared to leave.

A whizzing noise caught Edward's attention and he jumped to the side, getting away with a slight nick of his left cheek, which caused blood to dribble down.

"Impressive, you dodged." A voice accompanied by the sound of clapping caught Edward's attention and he turned his head to the sound. The ninja seemed to be around Mustang's age.

"I'm guessing you're the one in charge, what business do you have with me? I don't believe I've done anything to piss anyone off yet."

A shuffling sound was heard to his right and Edward brought his right arm up just in time to deflect away a kunai.

"Great. Just great. More of you?!" Edward sighed sarcastically. His day couldn't get any worse then it already was. He hoped.

"We were hoping you would come without a fight, but that would not appear to be the case. So, don't get upset if you get injured!" The ninja surrounding Edward took this as their cue to attack him.

Edward frantically dodged the numerous kicks, punched and the occasional kunai aimed at him, before backflipping and skidding to a stop, before bringing up his arm to deflect yet another kunai.

Then, all of a sudden, Edward grinned in a evil sort of way, before bringing up his hands and clapping them together. There was a burst of electrical blue light and when it faded, a blade could be seen on his arm, which also showed off his mechanical arm.

Edward cackled slightly before diving back into the mess. Edward wasn't going to deny it. He really did miss brawling.

LINE BREAK

Five minutes later and quite a large number of bruises later, Edward was victorious. He grinned, before clapping his hands and returning his automail back to normal. "Hah! Who's short now?" Apparently, some other idiot called him a runt, and more then likely paid dearly for the forbidden crack at Edward's short stature.

"Woah!" Edward yelped in surprise as a kunai nearly took his hand off. He did not need any more missing limbs then he had already been missing, thank you very much.

Edward snapped his head to the side, to where the kunai had been thrown. "So you finally show yourself, huh?" Edward said, feeling slightly irked that he had more fighting to do. That, and he really needed that cold drink.

"My subordinates were just meant for me to observe. Now that I know how you fight, this will be easy." Edward honestly felt like slugging the guy in the face. What kind of person uses their own comrades as a mean to make things easier for themselves?! Well, Edward corrected himself, he did know a few people like that, but that's besides the point.

Edward snapped himself out of his thoughts as he caught sight of the gleaming metal of the tanto the man wielded.

Falling into yet another defensive stance, Edward prepared himself. Sweat dripped down his brow, and the tension in the air reminded Edward of the time he fought the Slicer Brothers. Well, minus the armour, and the two souls bound to one armour.

The clink of metal from behind alerted Edward, but when he whirled around, only to see two pieces of metal clunking together, attached to a tree by a wire which was wound around the handle of a kunai.

 _Wait, wire?_

Edward turned around just in time to see the man run at him, barely giving Edward anytime to dodge, not to mention transmute his automail. "That kunai you threw earlier had a wire attached to it?! I get it, you weren't even aiming for me, you just needed it as a distraction!"

Edward cursed, as his back hit a tree before ducking and barely dodging the tanto by a hair.

"You're skilled at dodging, I'll give you that. I guess I should stop going easy, even if you are just a small brat."

Edward's jaw fell open. He was going easy the whole time?! He was willing to bet that the man would be able to give the Slicer Brothers a run for their money. Then, he realized that the man had called him using the forbidden word.

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING A LITTLE RUNT THAT WON'T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT DROWNING BECAUSE THE WATER MOLECULES ARE LARGER THEN HIM?!"

The man ignored Edward's tirade and zipped through a series of handsigns that Edward recognised as the kind ninjas used before he stopped and then vanished.

Edward's jaw met dirt a second time and more then likely would have made it to the mantel if the lithosphere wasn't around to stop his jaw. These ninjas just love to defy the laws of science, don't they?

Regaining his composure, Edward looked around frantically, for any movement, anything that would give away the enemy's position.

Stepping backwards, Edward's hand snagged against xomething. Spinning around, he found that it was just wire.

 _Wire?!_

Moving away from it after untangling his hand from it, Edward's foot snagged yet another wire and before he knew it, Edward realized that there was wire everywhere and he, was in the middle of it.

Edward snarled, and made to clap his hands to disintegrate the wires, only to find that he was hopelessly untangled, his hands a few inches apart. Edward cursed loudly as he tried to bring his hands together when he suddenly felt a presence behind him.

"Behind you." The man was suddenly behind him, and before Edward could do anything, a sharp stab of pain shot up his right leg and he crumpled to the ground, his flesh leg unable to support his weight.

The man pulled his now bloody blade out of Edward's useless leg, removing the wound's only plug and causing the blood to flow down freely. Edward nearly cried out, but harshly bit his lip. Automail installation was much more painful than what he was feeling at the moment.

Edward pushed himself backwards, desperate to get away. Damn it! Even if he could get up and move, he wouldn't be able to get far.

"Say goodnight, you little runt."

And before Edward could even feel angry at the man for calling him a runt, he had already been whacked at the back of his head with something hard, and he had already been sent into the darkness of unconsciousness.

LINE BREAK

"An A ranked mission?" Kakashi Hatake asked Tsunade incredulously, wondering if she was drunk. Well normally, he wouldn't have said anything and would have just accepted it, but at a time like this? The village was in ruins, well technically there wasn't any village left, courtesy of the Akatsuki, there were also numerous wounded casualties turned living, which basically meant that there were tons of injured and yet, while he should be helping rebuild the village, which actually intended to, despite his lazy reputation, he was being sent out?

"Yes, you heard me, Kakashi." Tsunade said calmly, ignoring the question marks popping up all over the man's head and continued the mission briefing. "This man is a A rank criminal from the Sand, Ungai Musashi. Currently, he's the leader of a band of mercenaries, who collect bounties on other criminals and things like that, so we pretty much ignored him in favour of other criminals, but recently, they've been going on extreme. Attacking innocent civilians, and demanding information about that kid who's been going around for about six months fixing items with his skills."

"Kid?" Kakashi questioned. Why would an A rank criminal be looking for a child?

"Yes, kid. Some blond kid with a red coat, I recall. So, I want you to go out, and arrest, or kill this man and possibly find out what he wants with a kid."

"Yes, Lady Hokage."

"Dismissed!"

And with that, Kakashi teleported out of the office.

LINE BREAK

Waking up was an unpleasant moment, like all the other times it had been when Edward had been kidnapped. Especially since he had such a killer headache.

Edward groaned, before opening his eyes slightly and quickly assessed his situation. He was lying on his side on the floor, and judging from the soreness of his limbs and the fact it was already night when it was previously morning, he must have been unconscious for a while. His injured leg throbbed painfully even without it being shifted. It had a length of gauze wrapped over it to stop the bleeding, even though it was becoming drenched in red. Edward didn't see anyone from his view, so he tried to push himself up... only to find that his arms were secured tightly behind him with coarse rope.

Edwards eyes snapped open and he frantically tried to pull his arms out of their bindings, only to fail spectacularly and succeed in rubbing his flesh wrist raw. His arms were pulled tightly together, with his hands far apart, most likely so that he couldn't transmute the ropes.

His ankles were just as tightly secured, and lastly, there was a thick piece of cloth tightly tied through his mouth to prevent him from speaking and muffled most of the sounds he made.

Edward struggled against his bindings ferociously, his anger bubbling up in his chest. That son of a...! Edward gave a muffled growl. Once he got out of there, that bastard was going to get his face pounded into the dirt!

A pair of feet came into Edward's view, accompanied by a voice. "You're awake."

Edward shifted slightly to look up at the face of the man who landed him in this position in the first place, and gave him a glare full of fury that silently promised vengeance.

The man held is hands up in mock surrender. "Don't take this personally. I'm sorry for all this but I was only told to deliver you to my employers." Something in the man's tone clearly said he wasn't sorry at all.

Edward clenched his fists angrily and once again began to pull at the ropes, hoping he would be able to loosen them somewhat and get free.

The man sighed in mock exasperation at Edward's futile attempts. "You won't be able to escape and even if you do, how will you be able to run? So just stop your pointless struggling." Before he turned away and left Edward's view.

Edward growled, but as much as he hated to admit it, the man was right. There wasn't anything within Edward's reach that he could use to draw a transmutation circle with so he could cut through the ropes. And even if Edward do get free, then what? His right leg was injured and he probably wouldn't make it far, especially with ninja and their freaky abilities after him. Edward didn't believe miracles, but he found himself hoping that one would happen that would get him out of this situation.

LINE BREAK

"Yep, Musashi was definitely here." Pakkun, Kakashi's ninja dog, informed after catching Ungai's scent. "There's also the scent of some kid up ahead." That caught Kakashi's attention. Lady Hokage had mentioned that Musashi had been looking for a child. Could the other scent be of the child Musashi was looking for?

Following Pakkun a few more paces, they came across what could only be identified as a battlefield. Kunai were sprawled on the floor, some stuck of trees, the ground was pretty much messed up. Not to mention there was some blood in the middle of the clearing.

Pakkun sniffed the blood. "This belongs to the child."

Kakashi felt a sense of horror build up in him. If the blood belonged to the child, that must mean that he was wounded. And if he took on a A ranked criminal, it would be safe to say that he lost. Badly.

He studied the blood trail. It had a dragging look that made Kakashi confirm the child was the one the criminal was looking for. Why else would he take the child along?

"Let's go, Pakkun."


	3. Rescue

Edward was exhausted. His efforts in trying to free himself throughout the night drained his energy and left him both physically and mentally exhausted. The ropes around his flesh wrist had cut through his skin from Edward's escape attempts, staining the ropes crimson. Edward winced at the sharp pain that shot up his flesh arm. And to add insult to injury, he hadn't been able to loosen his bindings one bit.

Edward strained against the ropes one more time before stopping, breathing heavily through his nose. Damn it, he couldn't breath properly with that confounded cloth in his mouth.

Edward rubbed his mouth on his shoulder, hoping to dislodge the gag, so he would be able to breath properly. It wasn't a easy feat, but it wasn't impossible. All it took was ten minutes, a bunch of muffled swear words and a lot of annoyance before he managed to get the cloth out of his mouth. He inhaled as much air as his lungs could hold, and coughed at the sudden large intake of oxygen.

Ok... one thing down, that was an accomplishment, but he was progressing really slowly compared to the other times he was kidnapped. Then again, those other kidnappers were dolts who weren't freaking ninjas. A freaking ninja. After six months in this world, ninjas still made utterly no sense to Edward.

"Damn it..." Edward mumbled as he pulled at the ropes again, trying his best to ignore the stinging pain in his right leg and left arm.

"That asshole is dead when I get out of here." Edward cursed as the ropes refused to budge. Pausing for another moment to think, Edward decided the best course of action he should take next would be to try and untie his feet.

Edward shifted, trying to get his hands closer to his feet, before realising that his hands were an inch too far from being able to reach the ropes around his ankles. He mumbled a profanity under his breath, and edged closer, ignoring the pain from his leg. His fingertips touched the edge of the rope.

It was sad, really, when Edward felt someone kick him square in the stomach, causing him to double over, and lose all progress he had with getting his legs free.

"I've told you before. There's no point in struggling."

Edward glared at him through the pain. "You son of a...!" He was cut off when Musashi placed a hand over his mouth, silencing him. Edward tried to pull away but his grip was too strong.

Musashi then motioned for one of his men to come over, whom Edward was pleased to note was covered in bruises which were obviously Ed's handiwork. The other man untied the gag that was hanging around Edward's neck and gave it a twist as Musashi removed his hand.

"Open up, kid."

Edward's eyes widened and be clamped his mouth shut. Musashi sighed in exasperation at Edward's stubbornness. "We'll do this the hard way, then."

Drawing his foot back, he kicked Edward harshly in the stomach again. Out of instinct, Edward yelped in shock and pain, and the other man took that opportunity to shove the cloth into Edward's mouth before knotting it tightly behind his head.

Edward made a few muffled sounds of protest as he shook his head, trying to dislodge the gag, but to no avail.

Then one of Musashi's men came over and picked Edward up by the waist, before slinging him over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

By this time, Edward was already running out of curses to throw at them in his head, and that was saying a lot, considering how wide his vocabulary was. He really wished that Alphonse was there to bail him out of his current situation. Hell, he even wished Ling was there to help him out, no matter how annoying that Xingese Prince was. Or even Colonel Bastard. No, wait. Scratch that last one. That damn pyromanic would probably just mock him for this later on.

Damn this all. There really seemed to be no way out if this crap.

LINE BREAK

Kakashi caught up to the group much later, using Pakkun's help to track them. He had out of sight in one if trees. Kakashi hadn't really expected to see most of the mercenaries looking extremely beat up, but he just decided that whoever did that, he just made Kakashi's job much easier.

One of the men at the front carried a small blonde boy who obviously wasn't one of them considering the fact he had been restrained and looked furious enough to kill.

He was wearing a red coat with a black coat and black leather pants, so Kakashi guessed that he was the kid Tsunade had mentioned. Pakkun sniffed the air. "Yep, that's them all right."

'Now then,' Kakashi thought, straightening. 'I should take them out quickly.'

LINE BREAK

Edward had been pulling non-stop at his restraints the whole time. If there was one thing he knew, it was that the Fullmetal Alchemist isn't some idiot who would willingly bow down to criminals, kidnappers and whatever people there were out there.

But when he heard some yelling and crashes, Edward paused, unsure of what was going on. His view was at a awkward angle so he couldn't actually see anything besides the back of the person carrying him.

He was unceremoniously dropped on the floor about three minutes after the sounds of battle started, knocking the wind out of him and caused a small, sharp rock to pierce his leg wound, causing it to tear open and start bleeding badly again, the blood pooling underneath.

Edward winced for what seemed like the third time that day. He would have gripped his leg to try and stop the bleeding, but for extremely obvious reasons, he didn't.

Suddenly, Edward felt something at his legs. Shifting his head to look at his ankles, he saw a what looked like a bull dog wearing a forehead protector with a strange symbol of a leaf carved into it biting away at the ropes that bound his ankles.

The dog part wasn't so bad, but what really freaked Edward out was the fact that it spoke. "Don't worry kid, I'll get you free soon."

Edward decided not to question this. Ninjas and their freaky talking animals. Six months ago, Ed would have said it was a Chimera, but apparently, believe it or not, those things were natural. Crazy different world with crazy talking animals. Oh well, at least this one wasn't pouncing on him like the others do.

Soon, the dog finished biting away the ropes and as it moved to start with the ones that bound Edward's arms, Ed kicked away the ropes from his ankles, glad to have some mobility back. After all, Edward and being restrained did not go well together.

The sounds of battle were still ongoing and loud, with the sound of clashing metal, as well as the sound of lighting and earth. Again, ninjas and their weird powers that defy every single damn law of Equivalent Exchange.

Finally, the last of the ropes were bitten through, giving Edward back his mobility. As soon as he could move his arms, he immediately pushed himself into sitting position and pulled the gag out of his mouth, drawing in too much air into his lungs which caused him to hack out the air since the intake of oxygen was too large. Apparently, he forgot.

"Hey, you alright kid?"

Edward, who was still coughing, nodded his head and a gave thumbs up as a response, although he almost immediately regretted using his flesh wrist for the gesture, as the previously scabbing wound split and bled again.

Ouch. He really needed to remember where he was injured.

Turning to the fight that was still going on, Edward noted that the masked ninja was having a far better time at fighting the criminal then he did. Damn, teacher would kill him if she saw him now. Edward shivered. The last time he saw teacher, she kicked him in the face and sent him flying to Neptune. His face still hurt just thinking about it.

Going back to the situation at hand, Edward just remembered what he promised he'd do when he got free. Ignoring the dizziness from blood loss, his face lit up in an evil grin, as he clapped his hands together and slammed it to the floor, the Alchemic array pictured perfectly in his head as he activated it.

LINE BREAK

Kakashi's fight was going fairly well. Sure, Ungai Musashi was a tough opponent who made good use of tactics and wires for traps. He definitely was worthy of being rated a A rank criminal.

Well, even though Kakashi could hold his own fairly well against Musashi, his use of the Sharingan took a physical toll against him, draining his stamina.

At one point, Kakashi lost his concentration for a brief moment due to exhaustion, but that was all it took for Musashi to aim at a potentially vital spot.

' _Shit!'_

Then, something unexplainable happened. There was a burst of electrical blue light, then, a stone fist shot out of the dirt and slammed into Musashi, knocking him out cold.

Kakashi gaped at the stone structure, even though it couldn't be seen under the mask. Turning his head towards the source where the light had come from, he felt surprised to see the blonde boy with his hands pressed to the ground, and was panting heavily.

His head turned upwards and his golden orbs locked onto Kakashi's black ones.

"Equivalent Exchange," He panted. "You helped me, so consider that my thanks." That was said before the boy's face met dirt.

There was an awkward silence before Pakkun piped up. "So, should I get help?"

LINE BREAK

Edward awoke to the faint smell of antiseptic. The same smell he always smelled after waking up after getting injured, seriously injured or almost fatally injured. The antenna of hair on top of Edward's head twitched up with the annoyance that he was once again in a hospital.

Or, Edward corrected himself, not a hospital but more like a medical tent. Eh, same thing. Damn it. He really being bedridden. Why was he even in some medical facility, anyway? The only injuries he had were a injured wrist that could heal easily, and leg that had been stabbed through with a sword. Not serious at all. He had worse. Does the phrase, 'missing limbs' even mean anything to anyone?

Apparently not, considering the fact he was sitting in a medical tent.

Edward slowly pushed himself into sitting position, a scowl etched on his face as his leg throbbed painfully.

Oh wait, make that legs and arm.

Rubbing his aching automail ports, Ed groaned as he remembered why his ports would be hurting. Rain. It was going to rain. Damn rain and it's Damn lightning releasing electrical charges in the air that messes up the nerve connections in the automail. Well, technically, it doesn't actually mess up the movements, it just causes the person pain.

Edward leaned back onto the pillow, trying to think about other things to forget about the pain he was in. Then, his mind unintentionally wandered back to the incident that landed him here. Something the man said was bugging him, but what was it?

" _...deliver you to my employers."_ Edward's eyes snapped open again as he recalled what the man had said. Employers? Who were they? Edward hadn't done anything to piss anyone off in this world yet- wait, scratch that. Actually, he had. But wouldn't they be trying to kill him, instead of capture him?

Edward grumbled. Everytime, in both worlds...! Sheesh, this crap was getting really old and Ed would really appreciate it if every kidnapper out there was stop making him a target! Go bother someone else, Edward had things to do!

Scowling some more, Edward brought his palm to his forehead. Things to do... yeah... before it was just to restore Alphonse back to normal. But now, it's that and finding a way home. Why on earth hadn't he considered the possibility of something going wrong when he was trying to get out of Gluttony?! Damn homunculus and his huge mouth.

Lifting his hand from his forehead, he looked at the cool metal of his automail arm, the one Winry had took such great care to craft. In this world, Edward had to be extra careful with it. Automail didn't exist here, so if it broke, he wouldn't even have to worry about Winry killing him. He would be stuck there forever.

Clenching his automail into a fist, he found himself praying he would make it back to his friends back in Amestris.


	4. Deals and Meetings

Tsunade tapped her fingers on her temporary desk, deep in thought, and ignoring the paperwork that was quickly piling up. She'll get Shizune to do it later. She had more important things her mind, after all. Kakashi had just given his report of the mission, before dumping Ungai at the T&I department. According to his report, Ungai had succeeded in capturing the boy who has been said to be able to fix anything. Kakashi took down most of his team, but was nearly defeated, due to a mistake. But, Kakashi was saved because of the blonde boy's intervention regarding a stone fist that knocked Ungai's lights out.

Moving on to the topic of the boy. Currently, he was being treated for a leg injury and some minor cuts and scratches he had sustained from his run in with a A rank criminal. Kid definitely got off easy. Usually, when a civilian or someone with little training has a run in with a criminal of that rank, they'd usually fall to pieces, literally, scorched with third degree burns and so on. But then, that'll bring Tsunade to her next question. Why would someone like Ungai spend so much time looking for one kid? He didn't seem anything special, well, other then his ability to fix things flawlessly.

Being reminded of that particular fact, Tsunade vaguely recalled considering requesting for his expertise to at least give the citizens a roof over their heads. Maybe she would do that, and perhaps, at the same time, try and find out why someone would be trying to capture the kid. **[A/N Someone tell me if Tsunade is OOC, please! I've never been able to get her character down properly! Is this how she acts? If I'm wrong, please PM me and tell me how she should act. Actually, if any characters are OOC, please don't hesitate to inform me and I'll try to fix it ASAP.]**

Tsunade pushed herself off the seat, and stood up. She had to go and see a certain blonde teen and request for some help.

LINE BREAK

"Oi! Stop touching my automail!" Edward yelled, exasperated at the doctor who was trying to examine his automail.

"But this is fascinating! Think of what this could do for ninjas who are missing limbs!" The doctor exclaimed, prodding at his arm while wearing look Winry always got when she was up at Rush Valley to 'enjoy the wonderfulness that automail is' and mooching off Edward to pay for more materials. His poor, poor wallet.

"Maybe, but you won't be the one getting a wrench to the head if it gets messed up!" Edward twitched, his face turning pale, recalling all the painful moments when he suffered from Winry's wrath after returning to Resembool with a trashed automail arm. He probably was never going to recover from all those times Winry had bashed his skull in with either a wrench or a spanner.

Luckily for Edward, the doctor backed off after that, but Edward didn't miss the confused look at the wrench part.

Oh. Right. From the time Edward had arrived to this world, he realized that there was absolutely no technology that involved mechanics, which meant there was no such things as wrenches, screws, spanners and many more. There weren't even any telephones! Hell, the only thing that ran on electricity were the lights and toilets! These people were definitely primitive compared to his world.

After pulling his shirt back on, which the doctor had previously ordered off him so he could make sure Edward did not have anymore injuries, after making sure Edward's leg was healing fine, the flap of the tent was pushed open, and a lady stepped in.

She had Hawkeye's hair and eye colour, but the similarities stopped there. She was wearing a white coloured shirt that Edward thought showed off too much of her large upper chest, and she wore a green coat over it, with a symbol that was written in this world's language. Took Ed forever to learn how to write those stupid figures, and he still can't write them that well! The woman also wore a pair of black heels and lastly, and a diamond shaped mark on her forehead.

"Who are you, lady?" Was the first thing that came out of Edward's mouth.

"What's your name, kid?" She responded back with a question of her own.

"Tell me who you are first, and I'll tell you my name, Equivalent Exchange." Edward shot back at her.

The lady smirked, and suddenly, Edward felt as if he was in front of Teacher. Oh dear truth... "You've got spunk, kid. Fair enough, I'm the fifth Hokage of the Hidden Leaf Village. Now, what's your name?"

"Edward Elric. And uh, what's a Hokage?" Edward asked that last part awkwardly. He had heard about the Leaf Village, and some brief mentions of the word, Hokage. But he never actually stuck around long enough to find out what it meant.

The lady seemed surprised. "You've never heard of the Kage of the five main hidden villages?"

"No." Why else would he have asked, if he had known?

LINE BREAK

To say Tsunade was surprised would have been an understatement. Most people, no matter where they came from, would have heard off of at least one of the hidden villages. Well, Edward must have been one of the few people who never heard of what should have been common knowledge.

"The Hokage is someone who leads the village." Tsunade gave a short explanation.

"Ah." Edward acknowledged. "So, why are you here? I don't think you'd come without a reason."

"You're a sharp one, aren't you Edward-"

"Ed." Edward interrupted. "People who use my full name makes it sound like their trying to kill me." Tsunade raised an eyebrow. What kind of trouble did Edward get into?

"Well then, Ed. I need some of your help in rebuilding. Recently, the village was attacked by a criminal organization, and we're in need of rebuilding quickly, to provide shelter for the citizens."

"Sure, but I don't do anything without a fair trade. I've already repaid my debt for getting me out of that situation by helping that other guy. So, what do you want to give in exchange for my skills?" Edward asked.

"We can give you protection against whoever is coming after you." Tsunade answered.

Edward thought about it. Sure, he really hated it with someone constantly protecting him against other people, so Edward's first reaction was to decline. But, thinking it through properly, something which he learnt to do in the past six months, he decided that it would probably be for the best. An alchemist, he could handle. Ninjas? Uh, not really, considering how badly he lost in the fight against the last one.

"I accept. But, I need some books on this whole ninja business. Maybe that way, I'll be able to handle whatever idiots that come after me."

"Very well. I'll have somebody being what's left of the books for you."

"...'What's left of the books'?" Edward repeated, looking confused at Tsunade's statement.

LINE BREAK

"...I thought you said 'damaged'. There's absolutely nothing left, except for some buildings that look absolutely new!" Edward exclaimed as he surveyed the land where the village was supposed to be, but in reality, was actually what looked like a crater with a bunch of debris at the sides. "What, did someone decide it would be a good idea to try making dynamite by setting fire to a volcano worth of nitroglycerin?" Before he slipped slightly and shifted the crutches he was using to support himself.

"You think you can handle this, shrimp?"

"SHRIMP?! WHO ARE YOU CALLING SO SMALL HE CAN ONLY BE SEEN WITH A MAGNIFYING GLASS, YOU OLD LADY?!" Tsunade's eye twitched at the 'old' part before she cocked her fist back and sent Edward flying. "What was that, you little brat?!"

From Edward's spot on the ground, Edward immediately decided that Tsunade was just as scary as his teacher.

As Edward sat up and clutched his head in pain, Tsunade heard her apprentice. "Master Tsunade! Shizune said you wanted to see me?" Sakura asked.

"Ah, yes. This," Tsunade gestured at Edward, who was sitting on the ground while trying to ease the throbbing in his head, "Is Edward Elric. I hired him to help repair the village. However, someone is after him, so he's in need of protection. You're the most efficient person I know of to carry this out."

"Yes ma'am, I'll do it."

"Good, I'll be going now." With a clack of her heels, Tsunade headed to the direction of her temporary office, while her actual one was being rebuilt.

Sakura turned to Edward, who had recovered sometime during the brief exchange between Tsunade and herself.

"Shall we go?" Sakura asked politely.

"Yeah." Edward replied before looking at the direction where Tsunade had gone off to. "Damn, that lady was scary! Almost as bad as teacher..." He trailed off, looking slightly nostalgic.

"Really?" Sakura asked as they were walking to the construction sight, well, more like hobbling in Edward's case, attempting to strike up conversation. "What was she like?"

Edward paled drastically and began to sweat. "She left me and my brother on a deserted island when we were nine and eight respectively, without any training beforehand. I nearly died that first week. For other times, she read off a book and literally drilled the information into our heads, while kicking our asses. That wasn't even the worst of it. The rest?" Edward shuddered. "I rather not think about it."

Sakura laughed nervously. His teacher really did seem like her master. A total, utter demon with spartan methods of training.

LINE BREAK

Upon reaching the construction sight, some of the workers greeted Sakura and one of them made one extremely fatal mistake.

"Miss Sakura, who's the shrimp?"

Edward then proved how it was physically possible to kick someone's ass while hobbling around on a pair of crutches. "I'M NOT A SUBATOMIC MIDGET WHO CAN'T EVEN BE SEEN WITH A POWERFUL MICROSCOPE!"

After Edward had calmed down, he went to do what he was hired for, all the while acting as if he had not just kicked someone's ass, while everyone just gaped at him.

"So, how was the building like before this mess?" Edward asked Sakura, who produced a picture, with the said building on it.

"That's easy." Edward clapped his hands, and the constructors looked at him, confused. "What can you do by just clapping-?"

The person who spoke was cut off as Edward slammed his hands into the incomplete building, and immediately, the Alchemical lights crackled and when it died down, the finished building was there, complete and looking just like it had before the whole mess. Well, besides for a few extra gothic looking designs. "How's that?"

The thud of jaws dropping could be heard from throughout the village.

"Ed?" Sakura began.

"Yeah?"

"Please get rid of the skulls."

"What? Why? They look cool as hell!"

"Just change it to how it's supposed to look."

"You got a problem with my sense of style?!" Edward shouted, annoyed that everyone thought his design was bad. His designs were cool!

"You don't have any." Sakura deadpanned.

LINE BREAK

After Ed fixed the first house, word quickly spread that the rumoured repairman who could fix anything was in the village, which quickly led to Edward being harassed while he tried to do his work. Notice the word tried.

"Could you help me fix this vase?"

"Ok."

"Could you fix my house?"

"I'll get to that."

"Could you fix my-?" "Repair this-?" "Fix-?"

"I'M TRYING TO DO SOMETHING HERE, SO COULD YOU POSSIBLY WAIT UNTIL I'M DONE?!" Edward was pretty sure he never actually got that agitated when he fixed things for people back in Amestris, of course, there were less people with broken things but still, this was getting ridiculous.

After repairing what seemed like his fiftieth house, a spikey, blond haired teen who was wearing a orange and back jumpsuit came up to Sakura.

"Hey, Sakura!"

"Hi Naruto." Sakura greeted him as Edward fixed yet another item a civilian requested for him to fix.

"Who's this, Sakura?" Naruto asked as he pointed at Edward.

"Oh, that's Edward. Master Tsunade hired him to fix up the village." Sakura explained.

"Really? But why'd granny Tsunade hire a small kid?"

Edward, who had been resting, heard the last part of Naruto's sentence, and snapped. "I'M NOT A SMALL KID! I'M FIFTEEN, DAMN IT!"

Both Sakura's and Naruto's jaw fell open. If there was one thing Sakura had not expected, this would be it.

"You're fifteen."

"YES! IS THAT SO HARD TO BELIEVE?!"

"We're sixteen."

And in height, both of them beat Edward by more then fifteen centimeters. In Naruto's case, he was at least twenty-five centimeters taller.

As Edward sulked in the corner, growing mushrooms and muttering about freakishly tall people, Naruto and Sakura conversed.

"Why did you come here anyway, Naruto? I thought you would be helping Ichiraku rebuild."

"Yeah, I was. But then I heard about some guy who could fix anything almost instantly! Do you know where I can find him?"

"That's him." Sakura said simply, looking over at where Edward was still sulking.

"Woah, you mean that the small guy is the guy who can fix anything?!"

"FOR THE LAST TIME, I AM NOT A ULTRA TINY PIPSQUEAK WHO CAN'T GROW ANY TALLER!" Edward screamed, fuming mad.

LINE BREAK

After Edward had finished his tirade, Naruto dragged him off to go fix some food stand that the blonde ninja apparently liked.

"Ok, here we are!" Naruto said cheerfully as he stopped in front a half built food stand.

"Oh, Naruto, you're back." A old man, who obviously owned the shop, greeted.

"Yup!" Naruto said cheerfully. "And old man Tenuchi! I got some help in fixing your shop!"

The old man, Tenuchi, if Edward wasn't mistaken, looked pleased. "Well, I'm glad to get any help I can have."

"They say he can fix anything instantly!" Naruto chattered excitedly about Edward's skills in the background as said person examined the materials, to see what elements they were made of so he would be able to transmute them.

When he was done, Edward positioned himself and clapped his hands together, earning himself some curious looks which soon turned to surprised as he slammed his hands down on the materials, evoking the blue Alchemical light Edward was so familiar with.

After the lights died down, Edward stepped back to survey his work. "Alright, I'm finished " He said, ignoring the amazed looks thrown at his direction, with the exception of Sakura, who had already shown her fair share of surprise earlier.

Then his stomach growled. Loudly enough for everyone to look at him. Edward flushed with embarrassment. Oh dear truth... His stomach just had to go and embarrass him right at that moment, didn't it?

"Well, since you fixed my shop, why don't you have some ramen, on the house?"

"Yeah, Ed! You gotta try some of old man Tenuchi's ramen! It's the best!" Naruto grinned.

LINE BREAK

True to Naruto's word, Edward was sure that was some of the best foods he ever tasted.

As he walked with Sakura to his temporary housings, a sad look crossed his face. Al really would like to try that ramen, after getting his body back.

Being reminded of the Alphonse he saw back at the gate, he clenched his automail fist. He had to return back to Amestris and return Al's body back to normal. Just being reminded of the cold metal shell that was Alphonse's body, and his real one, looking pale and skinny, just heightened his resolve.

LINE BREAK

"A deal?" The masked man asked the figure in front of him coldly.

"Yes. We'll help you in your war, if you help us find someone important for my own plan." The last few humans he had hired failed in their task, so, why not take a few more steps to retrieve the Human Sacrifice? He had been carrying out his work for more then three hundred years, and Human Sacrifice candidates were rare throughout the years.

"And how will that benefit me?" The masked man's eyes narrowed.

The figure chuckled. "We can't die. Isn't that better than having a weak being who all die so easily like insects?"

The man lifted an eyebrow from underneath his mask. Maybe this deal would prove beneficial after all.

"Very well then. I accept your deal."

The Dwarf in the Flask smiled. Soon, he would be able to carry out his plans, once Edward Elric was back in Amestris.


	5. Just this once

" _Mom!" Ed ran up to Trisha Elric, holding a small transmuted toy. "Look at what I made!" He grinned happily as he held it out for his mother._

" _Wow, did you really make this yourself?" Trisha asked, lifting the toy up from Ed's hands to inspect it. "Wow, you really do take after your father! I'm impressed! My little genius!" Trisha smiled kindly at Ed._

" _But..." Blood splatters appeared on Trisha's dress, decorating it in splashes of crimson._ _ **"Why couldn't you make mommy better?"**_ _The creature from the night of the transmutation moaned eerily. Ed stumbled back, horrified, his eyes wide with fear._

" _Why, big brother?" Alphonse's voice rang out from behind Ed, causing him to spin around. "How could you? I trusted you! You said you'd bring mom back, but look!" Alphonse ripped his helmet off, revealing the blood seal. "I don't have a body anymore! And it's YOUR fault! And look at you, you aren't even trying to help me!" Alphonse armour shook angrily as the two glowing areas where the eyes should have been glowed darkly. "Why do I have to pay for YOUR mistakes?! I HATE you, big brother!"_

Edward shot straight up from his futon, gasping for air as sweat poured down his face, much like the tears that were rolling down his cheeks. Light poured in from the opening flap of the tent. Edward gripped his automail arm tightly, the very reminder of the sin that cost him his arm and leg and Al everything. Ed let the tears run down his face for a moment more, before wiping them away, forcing the tears to stop. No, he wouldn't cry. Not when Alphonse couldn't. He had no right to allow himself the luxury of tears. He shouldn't even have the right to be a teenager.

There wasn't a day when he stopped regretting his foolishness at playing god.

LINE BREAK

Sakura had only known two people who were able to sleep all day if they had wanted to. And those positions belonged to Naruto and Shikamaru. But, Sakura found that she may have to add a third person to that list.

When Sakura first met Edward Elric, he hadn't really struck her as the sleep-all-day type. In fact, he had seemed like the workaholic type.

Well apparently, she was wrong.

It was already past noon, and her charge was still sleeping! Hadn't he gone to bed at eight the previous night?

Well, it wasn't that she blamed him. After all, all that repairing he had done the during the previous days must have taken it's toll on him. Then again, Sakura hadn't known Ed for more then a few days, so this could easily have been a common occurrence.

About another half an hour of waiting in, and Sakura knew Edward had woken up, if the soft thumps and curses were any clue.

Edward emerged from the tent about half a minute later, cursing and looking like a absolute mess. Hair was falling out of his usually neat braid, along with small tufts of hair sticking out all over his head. While he should have only one hair antenna, he currently had about fifteen.

His wrinkled red coat was draped over his shoulders in a messy fashion. All in all, he looked terrible.

Edward cursed as he wrestled with the hair tie, trying to pull it out of his hair, ignoring Sakura, who was just staring at him, flabbergasted, as she tried to figure out what the hell happened to him. Edward just glared at empty air. However, he had a look in in eyes that Sakura just couldn't put her finger on. Sadness? Regret? Anger? Sakura didn't know what it was.

Sakura was tempted to ask, but she decided not to. A voice in her head kept telling her to leave it be.

LINE BREAK

After Edward fixed his hair and tidied himself, he was back to work. Rebuilding houses, repairing junk... yeah, that was pretty much Ed's afternoon for the day in a nutshell. Nothing interesting actually happened unless you counted some of the Inuzuka's ninja hounds hounding Ed every single time they passed by, and Edward's bad sense of style.

"There's nothing wrong with my sense of style! The stuff looks badass!" Edward grumbled, annoyed, while holding an ice pack to a rather large lump on his head, courtesy of some furious villager. They had stopped for the day after Ed's most recent encounter with a cast iron frying pan and were currently sitting in Edward's temporary lodgings.

Sakura shook her head in exasperation and muttered something that sounded a lot like, 'idiot'.

Ed fumed silently for a few more minutes, before finally putting down the ice pack, and turning his attention to the pile of books and scrolls on ninja techniques that weren't destroyed during the attack on the village. Edward flipped open the first one his hands touched, and began reading, filing away the important information into his brain.

LINE BREAK

After getting Edward, who was still reading, to follow her to the medical supplies tent so she could watch him and do something productive to kill two birds with one stone, Sakura had started checking off the medicinal herbs to prepare for the upcoming Fourth Great Ninja War. Medicine for illnesses and injuries during a time of war were invaluable, considering how many lives medicine could save.

Seconds turned to minutes, and minutes turned to hours as the workload Sakura had lessened until she soon finished what she had to do for the day.

"ARGH!"

Sakura jumped at the sound of Edward's frustrated yell.

"This makes no sense! Where the hell is the Equivalent Exchange?! Someone's life force shouldn't be able to replenish itself!" Ed ranted, jumping up before falling straight down. Edward's leg still wasn't able to handle sudden movements.

"I need to think," Sakura heard him mumble. "It could possibly be just excess energy in the earth, but it can't be, since everyone has a limit. Maybe... crud, I need paper and a pencil."

Sakura just took a few sheets of the blank paper she had from her clipboard, along with a extra pencil she had and handed them to Ed, who looked up at her in surprise, before taking it from her and mumbling a 'thanks'.

Since Sakura didn't have anything left to do, she just sat down next to Edward and watched with fascination as the paper slowly began to fill with writing and symbols that Sakura couldn't hope to understand. But still, it was fun to watch.

"Hey, Sakura?" Sakura looked at Edward. "Could you show me how this catara works?"

"Sure," Sakura agreed. "I've finished my work already, so why not? And by the way, it's _chakra_ , not catara."

"Chakra, catara, whatever! How does it work?" Edward quickly dismissed Sakura's correction at his butchering of the word, squashing whatever embarrassed feelings he had bubbling up.

LINE BREAK

"So, what you're saying is that for to use chakra, you have to mold physical energy and mental energy?" Edward asked, as he watched with mild fascination as Sakura literally walked up a tree without any hands. They had gone out to one of the training fields, the very same one that Team 7 had used for the bell test. Sakura had no idea why she chose that particular training field, but she just dismissed it as nostalgia. It was where she had learnt one of her most important lessons, after all.

"Yeah, that's pretty much all there is to it." Sakura told Edward.

"This still makes no sense..." Edward deadpanned.

"Well, maybe it'll be easier for you to understand if you could do it?" Sakura asked, jumping off the tree and landing on the ground.

"I guess so... could you teach me?" Edward remembered the last time he asked someone to teach him, she turned out to be a utter demon in training.

"No problem."

Edward found himself hoping fervently Sakura wasn't as scary as teacher was.

LINE BREAK

Luckily for Edward, Sakura's teaching do not involve getting the crap beaten out of him. It was just mostly explaining until the part where Sakura wanted Edward to try mold chakra.

It took quite a few tries, but Edward did succeed on molding some, but it was a extremely small amount, far too little to perform Justus, but enough to do the basic tree climbing exercise, Sakura told him. Well, it wasn't like Edward needed Ninjutsu desperately. While being able to do it would prove useful in battle, all Edward was understanding of chakra and control. Besides, he preferred his Alchemy over the law defying chakra.

"You're going to do the tree climbing exercise." Sakura told Edward, breaking him out of his thoughts, and handed him a kunai.

"You'll mark how high you get each time, using the kunai."

Edward moved to the front of the tree, and paused, trying to concentrate what little he had of his chakra to his feet. Notice the word trying, for the moment Edward place his foot on the tree, he was blasted off.

Despite being a utter prodigy and genius in Alchemy, Edward was by no means any of that in the ninja arts of chakra.

And since he was trying to do all this a injured leg, which had healed well enough for him to move around but not take too much physical activity, he knew this was going to be a very long day.

LINE BREAK

Edward lay in front of the tree on his back, panting as sweat poured down his forehead. He had been trying to chakra his way up the tree for four hours and running now. Damn it, he was not going to let a damned tree defeat him. Being defeated by a dog was bad enough. That alone was perfect blackmail material for the Colonel. If Colonel Bastard ever got his hands on this one... Edward shivered. He probably wouldn't ever let it go. Ed could practically hear the bastard and his stupid jokes, which usually revolved around his height. Edward growled at the reminder of Mustang's short jokes. He was not short!

 _You keep telling yourself that._

The annoying voice at the back of his head whispered teasingly.

Edward leaped to his feet and whacked his head with his flesh hand. Even his own subconsciousness had betrayed him.

But really, no matter how annoying some people back home were, Ed really was starting to miss all of the arguments and teasings. They were familiar, and comforting, even though Edward hadn't acknowledged that fact before. Edward sighed, allowing himself a few more moment of comfort from his memories, before Edward continued the tree climbing exercise.

LINE BREAK

"Sakura!" Sakura turned her head from Edward's failed attempts at the tree climbing exercise which were surprisingly hilarious, mainly because of the large amounts of curses Edward would let loose each and every time he failed and the fact he barely made any progress for the past four hours. Even Naruto was better when he started. But of course, Edward had zero training prior to this, so he couldn't really be blamed.

So, Sakura turned her head to see Ino, running towards her while waving.

"Oh, Ino! What brings you here?"

"Well," Ino began, "Everyone has been working so hard lately I thought we all should go out for some BBQ! Do you want to come?"

"Sorry Ino, but," Sakura looked over to where Edward was still failing miserably at the tree climbing exercise. "Lady Tsunade gave me an assignment to look after Edward, so I can't just leave him alone just to go out."

"Well, why don't you being him along? Besides a, I heard from lady Tsunade you've been taking care of someone who nearly repaired the entire village in a day and I'm guessing that that's him. He deserves a break!"

Sakura thought for a moment before nodding her head. "I guess. He has been working non stop for the past few hours anyway. Hey, Ed!"

Ed looked up from where he was standing on the tree. He had been making some progress but his concentration broke the minute Sakura called him, causing to fall off yet again with a loud thump. "OW!"

Sakura winced as Ed landed. That had to hurt. Maybe she shouldn't have called him while he was still on the tree.

Edward was currently laying on his back, his legs high up in the air. And if one was to look closely, they would be able to see small stars whizzing above Edward's head.

"I hate you..." Edward mumbled, almost inaudibly, as the world seen through Edward's eyes spun.

"Sorry," Sakura apologized, wincing at the thought of his painful must have been. "Just thought I'd ask you if you wanted to stop for dinner."

"Nah, I'm good-" A loud growling sound cut through the air. Edward turned a deep shade of crimson as he turned his head away.

Five minutes later, Edward had been dragged along with Sakura and Ino to go meet up with their friends before having dinner.

LINE BREAK

The restaurant was one that Edward recognised, having repaired it earlier. The lady who ran it was a nice lady, who gave him some free meat as thanks. When she saw Ed, she greeted him with a smile, and told him that her building was even better then before it was destroyed.

Inside the restaurant had quite a few people, but the people who stood out the most was a group talking and laughing with each other, one of whom Ed identified as Naruto. Were they the people Sakura and Ino were meeting up with? It was more than likely, since Naruto was with them.

Edward frowned. When was the last time he had actually gone out with a group of friends? He was what, four? Five? And that was just play in the mud and chase after sheep for fun. The only people Edward had hung out with after his mom passed on were just Al and Winry, and people twice his age after he joined with the military. And even then, he it wasn't like he had tried to be social. At those damn military functions, he'd just bring along a Alchemy book and spend the rest of the night in a corner being antisocial, unless the Colonel would make him go around. And even then, he wouldn't speak to anyone unless spoken to. He had far better things to do with his time than to speak with pompous idiots.

Just then, Naruto spotted the trio approaching, and waved them over, calling out excitedly. Was Naruto always this cheerful? Ed wished he could laugh and smile freely again, like he did before Hohenheim left and his mom passed away.

Edward growled. That bastard...

Naruto's calls had drawn attention to them, and Ed felt eyes in his direction. He was used to being stared at by people back in Amestris, so he just shrugged it off. The good thing about not being a known person was that no one threw rubbish at you because they hated whoever you worked for.

Ed was once again yanked out of his thoughts when Ino pulled him over to where the group was seated. "Hey, Ed!" Naruto greeted cheerfully.

"You know this shrimp, Naruto?" One of them, who had a huge white dog which Edward was wary of, asked the blonde ninja.

Edward's eye twitched violently. "SHRIMP?! I'M NOT-!" But, Edward was cut off when Sakura swatted him of the head.

Naruto, who was blissfully ignorant of Ed's misfortune, continued chattering on as if Edward wasn't on the floor, holding his head.

"Yeah! That's Ed! He's been repairing the village! I've seen how he fixes things! He just claps his hands," Naruto clapped his hands together the same way he had seen Edward do it, "And then there was this blue light! When it cleared, everything was fixed! It's like some sort of awesome ninjutsu!"

"I've said it more then three hundred times, and I'll say it again," Attention was turned to Ed, who had just recovered. "My Alchemy is not your catara stuff. It's a science."

"Yeah, yeah! It's still awesome!" Naruto said dismissively, still caught up in the memory of when Edward used his Alchemy to fix that shop.

Edward's eye twitched.

LINE BREAK

Introductions went smoothly, apart from a few that really irked Ed. But the one that nearly sent Edward flying off the handle was the one by that pale guy.

" _I'm Edward Elric."_

" _I'm Sai."_

 _Sai looked at Edward thoughtfully for a few more moments before Edward got annoyed. "...What?" Ed asked warily._

 _The ones who had already known about Edward and his short temper and unusual sensitivity to his height or lack of thereof groaned, knowing where this was leading to._

" _I'm trying to think of a nickname for you and I think I thought of one,"_

 _Edward looked at him, confused as to where this was leading to._

" _Midget."_

" _WHAT?! WHO THE HELL ARE YOU CALLING A MICRO SIZED..."_

Needless to say, it had not been pretty.

Throughout the meal, Naruto was asking Edward his Alchemy, which Ed was pleased to talk about, since it was topic he loved. Eventually, some other people joined in.

One guy, Lee, if he remembered correctly, had been disturbingly similar to Major Armstrong, with the sparkles and crying. Luckily, he was not a muscle man and he did not take off his shirt, which Ed was thankful for. One Armstrong washed enough, but two?

NO. Take his other leg, his arm, his life, but dear Truth, please don't have two Armstrongs. It wouldn't b good for anybody's health.

Eventually, the conversation had steered to where Edward had originated from.

Edward paused in his eating, remembering the beautiful grassy hills of Resembool, and the freshness of the air, unlike that of Central's, which had a dusty, smoke smell to it.

"It's a nice place. It's mostly just farms though." Edward gave a short description of Resembool. He hated thinking about his home. It just left a sense of loneliness and despair, just knowing he might never make it back home. Edward just decided to give half truths. No point in getting them involved in things they shouldn't be involved

"Really? It must be nice. I bet you go back and visit often!" Sakura smiled.

"No... I haven't gone there for more then six months. Even if I did go back, I don't have a home to return to..." Edward said the last part softly, which was meant for his ears alone. However, Naruto and Sakura, who were seated beside him, heard it, and sent him questioning looks.

"So, why'd you leave? It's such a drag." One of them asked Ed, although Ed couldn't remember what his name was. Though he do have hair that looked like a pineapple.

"Had to. I had to fix a mistake. Couldn't do it just staying in one area.

Then, someone asked the same question Edward hated to hear. "So... do you have a girlfriend back home?" Ino asked teasingly. She had only meant it as joke, do it was a surprise to see Edward's face turn beet red.

"NO! I don't have one!"

"You sure?~"

"YES! I DON'T HAVE A GIRLFRIEND, PERIOD. AND I'M TOO BUSY TO HAVE ONE! SO NO!"

 _He's in denial..._ Was the thought that ran through the Leaf inhabitants heads, all except for a certain few, which should be really obvious in who it is.

However, despite the embarrassing conversation, Edward somehow felt... different. As if these people, who he barely knew, had begun to grow closer to him.

And it scared him. No, he couldn't let them. They had no business in this. He belonged to one world. They belonged to another. One shouldn't meddle in the affairs of another world.

After everyone left, pleased with the delicious meal, Edward walked back to his lodgings, with Sakura following closely behind, looking out for any danger.

"You didn't have to ask me to come along, you know." Edward said suddenly.

Sakura felt confused as to why he said that. "It's no problem, really. Besides, aren't we friends?"

Friends... it had been a long time since he had any to hag out with. The ones he had were either military, or his childhood friend. Maybe, just this once, he'd allow himself a bit of happiness, just to keep himself sane enough to get Alphonse back to normal, and get back home.

"Yeah, I guess so..."

Maybe, just this once, he'd allow himself to be a teenager again.

 **[A/N Ugh, I feel so disappointed with this chapter, but I don't know how to improve it. I'm not good at writing going out for food scenes, since I pretty much have zero friends, so I'm not sure how people in a group acts. And sorry for the slightly OOC Ed. He's too... I DON'T HAVE A WORD FOR THAT!]**


	6. Old Enemies

The monster grinned. No one had seen it, nor sensed it entering this pathetic excuse of a village. Humans really were stupid and ignorant.

The humans populated this place like cockroaches, and the monster wrinkled it's nose in disgust. This village had been recently been destroyed, killing several hundred or thousand. But thanks to the world's disgustingly kind ways to humankind, the dead were brought back to life.

It snorted. Let the miserable worms rot and die.

Although, it grinned evily, it wouldn't hurt to pick off a few of these cockroaches. It may have been sent there to retrieve the Alchemist, but that didn't mean that it couldn't have some fun, right?

Finally catching sight of it's target, the monster grinned.

"Your days of hiding are over, Fullmetal pipsqueak."

LINE BREAK

Edward glared. It. Was. So. ON.

"What are you doing?"

"This damn thing won't defeat me!"

"And the fact that you're glaring at a tree is going help you, how?" Sakura deadpanned, watching Edward's glaring competition with a tree. A tree. Sakura briefly wondered if Edward's falls from the tree had finally gotten to his head.

"Look," Sakura began with a sigh. "The training is hard when you've had no prior ninja training. Especially when training is supposed to have started when you're five."

"Seriously?" Edward groaned.

"Yeah, but don't worry, you're doing great, for someone with zero prior training!

Just remember, when life gives you lemons-" Sakura began.

"I'll shove the damn lemons up life's ass, and tell him I don't want his freaking lemons." Edward interrupted, finishing Sakura's sentence.

Sakura paused. "Well, not really the choice of words I was looking for, but I guess you can work with that."

Edward thumped his head on the bark of the tree and groaned, absolutely positive that the Truth was busy laughing at him.

Just then, a familiar blonde came up to them.

"Sakura!" Naruto called.

"Eh? Naruto? What are you doing here?"

"Just needed to ask Edward something in private. Do you mind if I-?"

"Go ahead. It might be a good break for him, anyway."

LINE BREAK

After Naruto led Edward away, Sakura couldn't help but feel as if something was off about this whole situation.

It would have seemed perfectly fine to a normal person, but something was wrong, and Sakura just. Couldn't. Figure. It. Out!

Then it clicked. Naruto never called Ed Edward. It always had been Ed. Perhaps what he needed to say was so urgent that the way he called Edward slipped his mind?

But if so, wouldn't Naruto just have told Ed whatever he needed to on the spot if whatever it was was so important? Ugh, this was so confusing!

Her worst fears were confirmed when Naruto arrived, greeting her enthusiastically.

"Where's Ed? Wasn't he with you?" Naruto asked.

"But… YOU just came and said you needed to tell him something privately!"

Naruto looked confused. "What do you mean? I haven't seen Ed at all the entire day!"

Sakura's heart froze in her chest.

LINE BREAK

"So, what?" Edward asked. They were currently in an alley, which they had entered, previously being in another alleyway. Honestly, why would an alleyway lead to another alleyway?! Who built this village?! Oh wait a minute… he did.

"Hm?" Naruto grunted, breaking Edward out of his inner tirade.

"You needed to tell me something, so what is it?"

"Oh, right."

Edward paused. "Hey… Naruto, is everything alright?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" Naruto asked, stopping his pace.

"No reason… just a feeling."

All of a sudden, so quickly that Edward didn't even have time react, 'Naruto' turned and grabbed his throat, and slammed him into a nearby wall.

Edward gasped, in shock and at the sudden restriction of air and he began clawing at the hand.

"Wha… what are you doing?"

"You still haven't figured it out? You're pathetic, pipsqueak." Not-Naruto grinned.

Edward growled at the name, before remembering the damn shape shifting homunculus who always mocked him that way

"You're… Envy, aren't you?" Edward gritted his teeth. Seven months of peace, down the drain.

Said homunculus shifted back to the more familiar form in a spark of red Alchemical light.

"Congratulations, you've figured it out, Fullmetal pipsqueak." Envy grinned.

Edward growled. "Don't **call** me pipsqueak, you bastard!"

Edward clapped his hands together, and transmuted a blade from his Automail, and stabbed that through Envy's arm, the disgusting sound of flesh tearing in the air.

Said homunculus hissed in pain, dropping Edward as the tissue and ligaments knitted together to heal his arm as Edward gasped for air before recovering.

"What the hell are you doing here?!" Edward growled, as he leapt away, and as he landed, he slammed his hands together, transmuting earth spikes from the ground and sending them at Envy, who avoided it easily, much to Edward's immense annoyance.

"Woah there," Envy started, dodging a stone fist that Edward transmuted. "I've just come to take you back to Amestris, pipsqueak-" Envy was cut off by a livid Alchemist swinging a blade at him.

"FOR THE LAST F***ING TIME, I'M NOT SMALL!" Edward yelled furiously, unsuccessfully delivering a high kick to Envy's side, as the homunculus blocked his foot.

Edward jumped back, crouched down in a defensive position, his automail blade held steadily in front of him.

"And no," Edward growled. "I am not going back to Amestris just to play a part in someone's damn plans."

The homunculi apparently needed him for something, which probably isn't good for his, or anybody's wellbeing for that matter. So, despite wanting to return home desperately, Edward was willing to sacrifice his return to Amestris to keep his little brother safe.

Envy snorted. "Too bad, pipsqueak. Father is getting impatient, and he wants you back in Amestris."

Edward twitched at the verbal jab at his height. "I'm not short!" Edward yelled before continuing,"And who the hell is this 'father' guy?!" From what Ed could gather, this 'father' guy was probably the one in charge, which no doubt meant that whoever the hell he was, he was undoubtedly a bastard. Multiplied by seven. To the power of a million.

Unfortunately, during this, Envy took Edward's distraction as an opportunity to knee him in the gut, causing him to gasp and double over in pain, before his face met Envy's foot, which sent him flying to meet a wall.

Upon impact, Edward's head slammed against the wall painfully hard. Edward faintly wondered if he had gotten a concussion as he felt something wet dribble down the back his head before he lost most of his bearings.

"Woah, maybe I overdid it a bit." Envy mumbled as he casually strolled over to the downed Alchemist, before barely dodging a chakra infused fist.

"Get out of here!" Sakura growled threateningly, her fists held up, ready for battle the minute she had arrived.

"I will, but not without him." Envy made to grab Edward but was stopped by Naruto and his signature attack, Rasengan.

"Damn," Envy picked himself off the floor, ignoring the red Alchemical light from his wound that quickly knitted the broken flesh together, much to Sakura and Naruto's horror. "If only the Alchemists could pack a punch like that back in Amestris."

"What the-!" Naruto exclaimed as Sakura went over to Edward to check on him. "What is he?!"

Edward coughed, shaking his head slightly in a futile attempt to clear the black spots dancing around in his vision.

"He's a homunculus," Edward mumbled as Sakura healed up some of the more serious gashes from where he was propped up at a wall. "He won't die even if you kill him. You have to kill him some hundred times before he stays dead, as the damn Colonel told me when he killed one…" Edward explained, wincing at the throbbing at the back of his head, which really felt as if some idiot was using his head as a drum.

Sakura had no idea who this 'Colonel' was, nor did she know what it meant, apart from the obvious fact that whoever it was, 'Colonel' was a person, and had fought a- a… thing like this one, and defeated it.

"Well, how do you kill one?" Sakura pressed, unsure of how she and Naruto would be able to kill the homunculus. Sure, Naruto could easily blast it apart, but from what Ed had said, it was going to take a lot more than just a few Rasengans to kill it. How could something like that exist? Sure, she had faced a few supposedly immortal members of the Akatsuki, but they all had weaknesses, which ultimately led to their demise. Take that puppet master, Sasori, for example. He had turned himself into a puppet to 'last forever', and he had seemed to be immortal. But he could still be killed if you knew where and what his weak spot was.

"The Colonel told me something... Argh, I can't remember!"

Well, that didn't bode well.

Sweat dripped down Sakura's brow. How were they going to kill this creature?!

Calm down, Sakura berated herself. Everything had a weak spot. Edward had mentioned that they could be killed. But it was the number of times the homunculus had to killed that had Sakura worried and flustered.

Throughout Sakura s mental conversation, Naruto and Envy had already begin duking it out. The fight had already begun to attract attention, if the surprised yelps were any clue. Sakura felt her heart leap. Maybe Ino, someone, could have noticed the fight and reported it to Lady Tsunade? Sakura hoped so. Even though she knew that Naruto could easily fight the homunculus on equal grounds, maybe even she could, she was worried about Edward.

What were the chances, that there could be another one of these homunculus, just waiting in the shadows, for a chance to grab Edward? Especially in his current condition. Of course, she could be wrong, but always expect the unexpected, right?

Another explosion. This time, Naruto had managed to land his Rasengan in Envy's face. Blood splattered the ground and Naruto, much to his horror, as he stared at Envy's half destroyed head.

Naruto's distraction was all Envy needed.

Envy shifted his arm in the shape of a blade and swiped it at Naruto, who fortunately dodged it fast enough to avoid a fatal injury, though he didn't manage to get away fast enough to get out unscathed.

Naruto grimaced at the pain, one hand over the bleeding slash at his abdomen. "Ugh!"

Edward, who was watching the fight with bleary eyes, took at least five seconds to register what had happened in his head, before cursing his inability to do anything in his current situation. Maybe if he wasn't so careless when he was duking it out with Envy earlier, he might have been able to help, and prevented Naruto from getting hurt. Why did everyone who got mixed up with his problems always get hurt? It was always his fault.

No, he couldn't let anyone else get hurt trying to help him. He couldn't let anyone else end up like Mr Hughes. No, he would face his own problems, by himself.

No one, especially people from another word, should need to get involved with the affairs of his own world.

Using the support of the wall behind him, he pulled himself to his feet, ignoring Sakura's protests that he was injured and in absolutely no condition to fight.

Staggering against the wall, Edward gritted his teeth, trying to ignore the pain. Ugh, it felt as if Gluttony had just sat on him, and rolled.

Edward sent the scariest glare he could at Envy, the kind that could have sent the past four hokage and probably the future ones running as fast as they could in the opposite direction. "Leave them out of this, Envy. They aren't part of this."

"I might," Envy said mockingly. "If you decide to get back to Amestris."

Edward pondered on this. Was it really worth it, to potentially risk his brother, Winry, and all his other friends, just to save his new ones, whom he has barely known for more than a month? But Envy enjoyed killing, that much Edward could see when Envy was boasting about starting the Ishvalan war, so what's going to stop him from picking off his new friends?

His own words rang in his head. That's right… even if he did listen and went back to Amestris, how would he know that Envy wouldn't kill anyone?

"I refuse." Edward snarled. "Who's to say you won't hurt anyone, even if I did go back to Amestris?"

"Well then, I'll just drag you back to Amestris myself, and maybe kill some of your ninja friends!" Envy laughed, before dashing in Edward's direction.

Sakura jumped in front Edward, her kunai drawn, and prepared. She would have had to be lying if she said she wasn't scared.

But suddenly, Envy stopped dead in his tracks, merely a couple of meters away from her. Sakura didn't know why, but Envy had a annoyed look on his face.

"What a drag," A lazy voice said. Sakura had never been so glad to hear that lazy guy. "Shadow possession jutsu, success." Shikamaru finished his sentence with a yawn. Well apparently, Shikamaru had been napping right before arriving.

"Well, lets just finish this up, Shikamaru." Choji said, while eating a bag of chips.

"Sakura! Naruto! Ed! Are you all right?!" Ino exclaimed.

"Ino!" Sakura began tossing out instructions. "Tend to Naruto. I'll heal Ed."

"Are you all idiots?" Envy mocked, breaking out Shikamaru's jutsu after some effort. I don't see how three more ninja can stop me, especially the fat one-"

Envy was cut off by said person slamming a large fist into his face, which sent him flying.

"I'M NOT FAT, I'M THICK BONED!" Choji bellowed, and if one were to look closely, they would be able to see fire burning intensely behind him.

Shikamaru facepalmed. "That guy's had it." He deadpanned. "Only a idiot would call Choji the three letter word."

All a sudden, Choji's rage at being called fa- uh, large, seemed so familiar, like the rants a certain blonde Alchemist does about his height, or lack of it.

Edward sneezed.

After Envy narrowly dodged another of Choji's furious attack, Edward faintly heard him mutter something, before he finally faced said Alchemist.

"Alright, Fullmetal pipsqueak. Three days, or we'll level this pathetic excuse of a village." Envy tsk'ed, before grumpily dusting himself off and took off, not giving anyone a chance to stop, or go after him.

Suddenly, Edward thought, the black spots clouding his vision, the ground looked really comfortable.

With that being his final thought, he drifted away to the dark depths of unconsciousness.

[A/N Ugh, if I could describe this chapter quality in one word, it would easily be horrible. I didn't even know it was possible to write so badly. Firstly, I think my characters are OOC but there is nothing I can do about it because I have no idea what I'm doing. Secondly, my battle scenes suck. I could probably draw them out better. And my drawings aren't up to my standards. Lastly, I am so sorry for the late update. My phone broke while I was halfway through the chapter. And I lost all my progress. Dear me, I won't be surprised if the Truth really was mocking me.]


	7. Decisions

Father, or rather, the dwarf in the flask, was a extremely patient being. After all, he had been patiently waiting for the nationwide transmutation circle in Amestris to be completed for almost four hundred years. So, what was a couple of hours?

Unfortunately, for the past couple of hours, he had been waiting for Envy to report back for the result of his task.

That man, Madara, Father recalled, apparently had spies, called Zetsu, that could easily gather information without being seen or heard. Rather useful, really. Envy could gather information well enough, thanks to his shapeshifting abilities, but even he had his flaws, not to mention the fact that Envy wouldn't be able to completely disappear if he had to. In fact, it was through these Zetsu that he was able to confirm the location of Hohenheim's spawn without anyone suspecting a thing.

Father frowned as a few more minutes ticked by. What was Envy doing that was taking him so long? It shouldn't have taken Envy more than an hour for him to retrieve Elric. Envy had better not be messing around with the humans.

Just then, a Envy arrived, looking mildly irritated and disheveled, with no Elric.

Father raised his eyebrow, as if silently telling the shapeshifter to get a move on with his report.

"Apparently, the pipsqueak has gained a few new troublesome allies." Envy muttered something else under his breath, which Father did not catch, but he decided to press on it.

"So, he has three days, to decide whether or not he wants to stay. If he does, I'll just crush that pathetic little village." Envy grinned, his eyes glinting maliciously.

Father smiled. He already had an entire civilization collapse. What was one more village?

LINE BREAK

Ed glared at the ceiling of his room in the newly rebuilt hospital -why on earth had he decided to rebuilt it? He hated hospitals – trying to ignore the dull ache at the back of his head, where he had hit it during his little run in with Envy. At the rate he was going with the concussions he got almost every week, -mostly because of a certain wrench wielding blonde female- he was more than likely going to get permanent brain damage.

Ed frowned. Was it him, or was it that every time he faced Envy, or any other homunculus for that matter, he always seemed to get his ass so thoroughly handed to him, even if he won in the end? It really seemed that way, and it pissed him off. He really ought to get stronger but that would only mean training more with… teacher! Ok, maybe later. Edward may not have like getting his ass kicked by the homunculi, but he sure as hell didn't want to die just yet, at the hands of his teacher no less.

The last time he had fought Envy was at least seven months ago, after Gluttony has swallowed him, Ling and Envy whole, which caused them to end up in that false gate of truth, that happened to be where all of Gluttony's meals end up, which basically meant he spent at least half a day walking around in dead people remains.

Ed shuddered. That sounded really horrible, even in his head.

Now that he thought about it, that was really gross, feeling the blood his boot. Yes, boot. His automail leg can't feel anything. But it did take Ed quite a while to scrape out all that gunk from his automail after he got out of there and landed in this world.

Edward paused in his thoughts. Now that he thought about it, what happened to that crazy Xingese prince? Envy was here, so did it mean Ling was too? But, hadn't Envy made it pretty clear that he got back to Amestris?

So, it was either Ling ended up in this crazy world with Ed and being hunted down for mooching off people again, or he had gotten back, and hopefully didn't suffer from death by homunculus, because no matter how annoying Ling was, no one a fate like that, so he really hoped that it was the former.

Turning his head outwards to look out of the window next to the hospital bed, he stared out into the village, taking in the sight of the happy villagers. Now that he thought about it, Amestris wasn't this nice…

"Hey, Ed." A voice broke Edward out of his musings.

Turning his head once more, Edward's golden eyes met with Naruto's blue ones.

Naruto grinned at Ed. "How ya' doing?"

Suddenly, the waves of guilt washed over him like a tsunami. Right. Naruto ended up in the hospital thanks to Envy. But Naruto wouldn't gotten hurt if he hadn't been trying to defend Ed…

"Sorry."

Naruto blinked at Edward's apology. "What are you sorry about?"

Breaking eye contact, Edward looked back up at the pale, white ceiling. "You got hurt because of me. If you hadn't been trying to defend me from Envy…"

"Nah, you don't have to apologize. I'm a ninja! I deal with this stuff every week!" Edward could almost hear Naruto's grin through his voice.

Sighing, Edward leaned back into the pillows. Well, he's gone and broken his record of how long it took for him to get back in the hospital after being released. If Teacher could see him…

Edward barely suppressed the involuntary shudder that rocked through him. Dear Truth, she'd kill him for being careless!

Then, Ed's eyes darkened as he recalled his scuffle with Envy. The damn homunculus said he would wipe the village off the map, should he choose to stay.

What should he do? He didn't want to risk his friends and brother back home, but couldn't just let this village suffer because of him…

He knew it. He shouldn't have stayed.

"I shouldn't have stayed." Edward said suddenly, surprising Naruto. "I should have just left after I fixed up your village. It always turns out like this. Someone always suffers because of me. But this time, its your home that's going to suffer, and it's my fault." Just like how Mr Hughes…

"Don't worry, Ed! The Hidden Leaf Village is super strong! We can keep those things away." Ed wanted to laugh at Naruto's simple minded thinking. It was almost laughable how Naruto could be like this, even when he was older then Ed.

"The ninja of your village may be strong, but can you truly guarantee that there will be no casualties?" Ed a hollow laugh. "I know what the Homunculi are capable of. Just one of them, Envy actually, managed to start the genocide of an entire race. Their monsters."

Things were silent before Ed spoke again.

"Maes Hughes."

"Huh?"

"He was a friend that suffered because of me. He uncovered things he shouldn't have, because I asked him for help. He was murdered. I don't want anyone else to end up like he did. He left behind his wife and kid. I tore apart his family." Ed shut his eyes, faintly hearing Mrs Hughes crying from his memories, with little Elicia comforting her mother.

The silence that followed was nearly unbearable, until Naruto broke it.

"Y'know, my teacher was killed."

Ed stared, wide eyed, but Naruto kept on talking.

"He was investigating a criminal organization called the Akatsuki, who hunted down demons called tailed beasts, mainly because I have one in me.

He was killed by their leader, but he left behind a message for me, so that I could take them down. I eventually did, when they came for me. But really, if you look at it from a certain angle, it's my fault he's dead."

As soon as Naruto had finished, Edward was pretty much gaping at the blonde ninja.

"Why... why are you telling me this?"

"Because you're my friend," Naruto grinned. "And you have the right to know."

Edward felt conflicted. He wanted Naruto to know everything, especially after he had just told him something like that. But he didn't want anyone to get hurt again...

Edward made his decision.

"I don't belong here." Edward whispered, holding his head in his hands. Naruto opened his mouth to say something, but Edward kept on talking.

"I never did. I shouldn't even be here. This isn't my world. You could say that I'm from a parallel universe."

Before Naruto could say anything else, the door to their room slid open, and Sakura stepped in.

Naruto brightened up, sitting up. "Sakura!"

Edward made to sit up, but the sudden stab of pain that shot up his back forced him to stay down, his right eye twitching with pain. So he settled for glaring at the ceiling. Huh, who knew the ceiling had fifty two tiles?

Sakura noticed this, and sighed. "Ed, the ceiling didn't do anything to you. So stop glaring at it."

"I know it didn't," Ed retorted. "But it had volunteered to be the one to take the brunt of my glare, cause I'm bored out of my skull, just sitting here. And it has fifty two tiles."

Sakura rolled her eyes, before moving over to check on Edward's injuries, since Naruto's were healing abnormally fast, something Edward couldn't fathom.

"Shirt, off." Sakura commanded.

"Say what?!" Edward exclaimed, turning slightly red. Only Winry ever asked him to do something like that.

"Not like that!" Sakura exclaimed, swatting Ed at the back of his head, eliciting a small yelp from said person. "I meant take of your shirt, because I need to check on your injuries. Honestly…"

Turning the other way, Edward grumpily pulled his hospital shirt off, revealing his automail and the numerous scars that decorated his body like a Christmas tree.

The gasp from Sakura was all it took to tell Ed that she had not known about the automail beforehand.

"What- what is that?" Sakura was the first to snap out of her initial shock, while Naruto seemed to be having trouble wrapping his mind around the new information, Sakura's eyes never quite left the cold, unforgiving steel that was attached to Edward's shoulder, with multiple scars surrounding the mechanism.

All in all, if there was one word Sakura could use to describe this, it would easily have been, 'horrible'.

"Huh?" Edward turned around to see Sakura and Naruto gaping at him. "You mean this?" Edward tapped the metal, which left a hollow, echoing sound after each tap. "It's a replacement."

Sakura suddenly felt extremely sick. "You mean to say that you-"

"Lost my arm? Yes." Edward interrupted.

Sakura gulped. "What happened?"

 _"Brother!"_

 _"This isn't what we wanted!"_

 _"Al! Alphonse!"_

 _"Ed, something doesn't feel right!"_

 ** _"Oh, I'm so glad you asked! I'm what you would the universe, or the world, or god, or truth, or all, or one. And I am also, you."_**

 _"It's gone! What have I done?!"_

"Ed!"

Sakura's voice snapped Edward out of the horrible memories, of his worst mistake that cost him everything.

"Are you alright? You just spaced out."

"Yeah…" Edward clutched the port of his automail tightly with his left hand. "This… was just… a childhood accident."

"But what accident could make you lose your entire arm?" Naruto finally asked, confused, only to receive a punch to the face.

"YOU IDIOT!" Sakura yelled at the blonde ninja. "You don't just go and ask somebody that kind of personal question! That's rude!"

"But it's so strange!" Naruto protested, and Edward was sure Sakura was going to end up shaking a few of Naruto's screws loose at the rate she was shaking and strangling him. Edward couldn't help but feel a slight twinge of pity for Naruto, who was turning slightly blue from the lack of oxygen. Maybe not just slightly blue, as he was currently looking blueberry kind of blue. But still, Ed couldn't help but snicker at Naruto's misfortune.

After about a minute more of this, Sakura applied her medical ninjutsu to Ed's back, healing up the rest of his injuries, which had more or less healed up thanks to the wonders of medical ninjutsu.

Ed made a mental note to ask Sakura how the heck she does it, because it would have been quite useful when fighting, and hiding injuries. Then again, he had remembered reading about the subject in one of the scrolls he had gotten his hands on, and apparently, it required precise chakra control.

Ok, maybe he'll just accidentally kill himself if he tried learning that, so perhaps not, considering the fact that his chakra control was -putting it very simply- atrocious.

Yeah... He'd probably just accidentally kill himself or something along those lines, which was something he really didn't want to happen at the present moment. Edward didn't survive going to hell and back just to be killed by his own stupidity and carelessness.

There was a moment of blissful silence until a certain spandex wearing youth with an uncanny similarity to Armstrong appeared with sparkles around him. Carrying flowers.

Dear Truth, you cruel, cruel bastard.

"Naruto, Edward! How good it is to see that you're alright! The power of YOUTH is strong with you!" Lee flashed a grin and his teeth sparkled as he gave them a thumbs up. Edward briefly wondered what this guy used to brush his teeth to make them sparkle like that. Armstrong would be proud because the 'art of sparkling had been passed down through the Armstrong family for generations!'.

Edward cried inwardly. It was probably just his famous Elric luck winning out yet again, for him to have met what seemed like Armstrong's parallel. If this was Truth's idea of punishment, it really was far too severe.

LINE BREAK

The day went by relatively quickly, as Naruto's friends came by to visit both of them, some of them bringing take-out food from restaurants that Ed and Naruto liked. At one point, a poker tournament -a card game which Ed introduced to them during his first month- began, in which Ed was promptly informed that, no, he was not allowed to cheat using Alchemy. No one really wanted to take any chances of Ed cheating again, not after what happened last time.

Unfortunately for them, Ed always could find loopholes in instructions -thanks to years of experience in that particular field-, something which everyone found out too late-

"Ed! I said no cheating!"

"You said no cheating with Alchemy. Did you see me use Alchemy?"

"... Good point."

"All those years of experience with finding loopholes finally paid off!"

-because by then, they had already lost quite a bit. Wallets cried out in agony at being absolutely flat for quite some time after that. The were lucky that they weren't playing strip poker, because by then, they would have lost everything, right down to their skivvies, the only reason why they hadn't lost that being due to the fact no one wants to see things that shouldn't be seen. Period.

LINE BREAK

Night crept upon the day like a tiger hunting it's prey, and soon, all the fun things had to end as the gang bid the two hospitalized people a good night as they left for their own homes.

Edward lay awake, his eyes glinting eerily from the moonlight, giving anyone who saw the impression of a cat. The events of the day ran through his head. Ed smiled slightly. Everyone here really were nice. And that coming from Ed was an accomplishment itself. Usually, it was Alphonse to say and think that, not Edward. Edward, on a normal day, would have just simply scoffed, before turning his head away and grounding out how these people just wanted something in return. Al would have been proud, had he been there with Ed.

Three days.

The thought rang onimously through Edward's troubled mind.

Thr- No, two days. Before everything would go to hell. Forty Eight hours. Two thousand, eight hundred and eighty minutes. One hundred and seventy two thousand, eight hundred seconds. In just that amount time, the Homunculi could have once again destroyed families, and have the blood of the innocent stain their already soiled hands.

He couldn't let that happen. Never again, will someone's death be his fault. He couldn't risk it. It was time for him to move on, like he always had before coming to this village.

Ed pulled the sheets off him, and sat up, swinging his legs over the side of the bed, his feet an inch short of reaching the ground -much to his dismay-, before he slid off, the tiles of the hospital room feeling cold under his bare feet.

He crossed the room as silently as a ghost could, his automail making the barest of clinking noises against the floor, before he reached the cupboard that kept his clothes, and whatever belongings he had he kept in a scroll.

Sakura had taught him how to place items in a scroll a few weeks back, and even though his chakra control was horrendous, he was at least able to do that much.

Although, he still didn't get the Equivalent Exchange concept behind it. Then again, this world was definitely nuts compared to his.

Discarding the hospital clothing, he quickly pulled on his black sleeveless top, followed by his black jacket and leather pants of the same color, before finally pulling on his trademark bright red coat, which he was told made him stand out like a sore thumb.

Edward briefly considered the coloring of his favourite coat, before regretfully deciding that the color would have to be changed. Not just his coat either. He had to change everything, and anything that could define him as the Fullmetal Alchemist. But he couldn't bear to get rid of his watch, no matter how much he despised the military that he had recieved the watch from.

He would have to dye his hair a different color as well. Blonde wasn't common around here, from what Edward had observed, so his hair color could make things difficult for him.

After gathering everything, Edward paused by the window, contemplating on whether or not he should leave a note of some kind behind, before he grabbed a conviently placed paper and pen and scrawled out a note in his chicken scratch handwriting, as he placed at Naruto's side table and slipped out of the hospital through the window.

The streets were deserted, and appeared strangely cold to him, unlike when it had been filled with happy families and shoppers.

The gates of the Hideen Leaf village stood tall and opposing as ever. Although Ed had only ever travelled that way once, while unconcious, he no longer stood awed at the sheer size of the gates. The gate of Truth was far more awe worthy. And terrifying.

No one was around. It was time for Ed to go. Hoisting the small pouch he got for his scrolls onto his belt, he took a few steps, pausing just as he stepped past the gates as he looked back into the peaceful village.

"I'm sorry, but I can't let anyone else get hurt again. Goodbye..." Ed whispered, as if there was someone around to hear him.

With that, Edward turnt back to the road ahead of him and once he started moving forward, he never looked back once.

 **[A/N Yes! I finally got another chapter out! This has been my longest yet. Though I think I made Naruto a little OOC here, but I really wanted Ed and Naruto to sympathize with each other and that was the only way i knew how to do it.**

 **I know Ed probably wouldn't have left because he's like that, but I like straying from the cliché where he stays in Konoha for no other reason and yadda yadda. And all the characters seem awfully OOC...**

 **I also hardly ever give the Teams any actual screen time, since it's been a while since I've seen Naruto, and I can't remember the personalities all that well, and I'm too lazy to go and check.**

 **Lastly, shameless advertising! Please go check out this Fullmetal Alchemist story I've been writing. It's called, 'To Keep Little Brother Safe'. And reviews are appreciated, there and here!**

 **Thanks for sticking with me for this story so far!**

 **~Gwntan12]**


	8. Extra Scenes: Part 1

Poker

Ed glared subtly at the cards in his hand when he drew another card from the deck as he played with a wooden stick in his mouth from his last stick of dango. _Che, bad hand again?_ His opponent 'Hmmm'ed, as he took his time. "Hurry up!" Edward growled with impatience as five minutes ticked by.

"Alright! I guess I'll draw another!" His opponent declared, drawing another card. Edward didn't miss the way his eyes lit up triumphly.

"Full House!" Naruto grinned triumphly, slamming his cards down on the table, and proving that he indeed had a Full house. Oh, he was in for a rather nasty shock.

"Sorry," Ed smirked, laying his own cards down. "Royal Straight Flush."

"What?!" Naruto cried, comical tears pouring down his face. "Aw, man! There goes my ramen money!"

"Well, you asked to bet money." Edward simply said, reshuffling the deck.

"Rematch! I won't lose next time!"

*Fifteen games later*

"Are you sure you don't want to quit?" Ed raised a fine eyebrow at the simple minded ninja in front of him. "You don't actually have much left to lose. And I'm not sure I want to see you lose anymore."

"I'll win the next round!"

"That's what you've been saying for the last fifteen rounds, and look what's happened." Edward deadpanned at the blonde ninja who was right down to his skivvies.

"Hey Naruto, Ed! What are you up to?" Sakura paused at the sight of Naruto in his boxers, who blushed considering the fact that while he was wearing only boxers, he was wearing boxers with hearts on them.

Quite frankly, Edward had been quite disturbed by that.

"Well, this guy," Ed glanced pointedly at the ninja clad in nothing but his underwear. "Played Poker with me, and pretty much lost everything."

"... Oh." Sakura really had no idea how to react to that. Ed probably could give Lady Tsunade a run for her money. Literally.

"Rematch!"

"You don't have anything to lose!"

"Yes I do!"

"I don't want to see you naked!"

"Actually," Sakura cut in. "Naruto could just bet that he won't eat ramen for a week."

Ed paused, thinking, before he shrugged. "Whatever."

Sakura watched Ed shuffle and hand out the cards with rapt attention. Wasn't Poker supposed to be a game of luck? How did Ed win every single time?

Just then, she noticed Ed discreetly clap his hands, and over his shoulder, she saw him change the cards.

"Ed, no Alchemy!"

Edward 'eep!'ed, caught red handed at cheating. And he really don't want to anger the female ninja.

"Ah ha!" Naruto exclaimed, pointing an accusing finger at Ed. "You were cheating!"

Sweat rolled down his face. "Ah, look at the time! Gotta go, bye!" Edward then dashed off, ignoring Naruto's calls.

Horror story

"... Night, when I made a horrifying discovery," Lee animatedly made some wild hand motions to try and act out the scene, of when something horrifying had happened to him. "I had been cleaning out my refrigerator, when I found a month old potato!" A collective number of groans rang out through the room, accompanied by the sound of palms hitting foreheads.

Edward groaned, running his hand through his gold locks. Why had he agreed to come? Someone had gotten the oh-so brilliant idea to do a horror night at the village's ninja academy at midnight, and Ed could have been in bed snoring, but no, he was busy listening to poor horror stories that didn't qualify as scary.

"That isn't scary!" A girl with her hair in buns, TenTen, he recalled, exclaimed, clearly annoyed at the pathetic attempt at a horror story. "We need ghosts, monsters, and supernatural stuff! Not potatoes!"

"But don't you know how a month old potato looks like?!"

"It doesn't qualify!"

"So," Ed yawned, deciding that it was a good time to cut in to their argument about whether or not rotten potatoes qualified as a horror story. "Who's turn is it?"

There was a moment of silence, before all eyes turned to Ed, who was still yawning.

"It's your turn, Ed."

Edward paused mid yawn at that. Him, tell horror stories? Well, that was a first. He never actually like horror stories, seeing as how his life was pretty much one big horror story.

An idea popped into his head, and Ed grinned, sending shivers down everyone's backs.

Ed began.

"Two boys were playing around in a forest when they discovered a moss covered cave, it's entrance hidden by a boulder. Being curious idiots, they decided to check it out. However, once they had gotten past the entrance, they saw nothing but white and a pair of large stone doors.

 **"Who dares pass into my domain?"**

A white figure that had previously gone unnoticed sat in front of the gate, a large, wide grin etched onto its featureless face. The only feature it possessed was the grin.

"Who are you?" The two boys had simultaneously asked, and the grin stretched itself even wider.

 **"Who am I? I am what you would call the world. Or the universe. Or god. Or truth. Or all. Or one. And I am also, you."**

The large stone doors swung open slowly, revealing a large purple eyes, as darkly spindly hands reached out for them.

 **"You have dared knock onto the door of my domain. Now, it has opened."** Without any warning whatsoever, the dark hands pulled the two boys in.

Within seconds, it had felt as if all the knowledge in the world had been crammed into their heads and just as abruptly, they were thrown out. Of course, after seeing all that information, they wanted more, and demanded to see more. However, the white being just grinned.

 **"I'm afraid that's all I can show you with the toll you had paid."**

But when they started protesting that they hadn't given any toll, it laughed eerily, which shook the boys to their very cores. The laugh itself was onimous, and seemed to foretell misfortune and suffering.

 **"This! Surely you knew?"** The older boy's leg and arm appeared on the white being, and as soon as he saw his own limbs on the being, an agonizing pain, unlike any he had felt before, seared through where his arm and leg should have been. However, there was nothing there, except for the stumps of where his arm and leg once were.

The younger, however, suffered a much worse fate. His entire body vanished, leaving him as nothing but a soul without a body, which couldn't eat, sleep, or feel."

The white being laughed.

 **"This is the price you pay, arrogant fools. Now begone!"**

In the end, the only thing people found of them was a bloody mess of body part and organs in an empty cave. The end."

Edward raised an eyebrow at the slightly green faces of the ninja. "Come on, that wasn't that bad! I got rid of the gorier bits!"

At this, many ran for the bathroom, and it became an unspoken rule that Ed wouldn't be doing any horror story telling anytime soon.

Make-out Series

"So, what are those books, anyway?" Edward asked Naruto, pointing to an untouched stack of books sitting innocently in a corner of Naruto's room. Sakura had dropped Ed off with Naruto since Tsunade wanted her to help with something.

"Eh, those are boring books my teacher kept giving me to read so I could tell him what I thought of them. Pretty boring, though." Naruto shrugged.

Edward sat down on the floor and grabbed one of the books to read, just for the heck of it since he had nothing better to do.

His eyes skimmed over the first paragraph, and almost immediately, his eyes bugged out and his face flushed a deep red as he slammed the book shut and dropped it back to it's former position on the top of the stack.

"Hey, Naruto?" Edward began weakly, his face still a bright red. "Why does your teacher write erotic novels?"

"That's because he's Pervy Sage."

"... You know what? I don't want to know. By the way, wasn't that Kakashi guy reading these books?"

"Yeah, Master Kakashi likes these books, for some reason."

"So... Basically, he a closet pervert?"

"Yep."

"... What is wrong with you people?"

From that day onwards, Edward never touched another novel that had the words, 'Make-out' on the cover from that world, or his for that matter.

 **[A/N So basically, this chapter was for some of the stuff Ed did during the one month timeskip. He did few more things, but I'll write them in later. Also, the last chapter was technically the end of Arc one, if you want to call it that. And this chapter was basically just the divider. For every arc end, I'll be writing one of these kind of chapters. And jf you were looking forward to what the reactions of Naruto and Sakura and more people to how Ed left, that's the next chapter which I hope I can get up sometime next month, since I've got exams and stuff. So, just one chapter before I get down to study my butt off. My head hurts just thinking about it...**

 **And yes, some of the horror story bits were from the Naruto spinoff, where they did a horror story night at the Academy. The potato part was from there too, which is why some of the characters were OOC. It's just meant for laughs because I was feeling a little depressed at the thought of all that studying I'll have to do.**

 **~ Gwntan12]**


	9. Arc 2

The old stallholder had seen plenty of strange people during his last twenty years of tending to his stall, but the dark haired teenager with a sand colored coat who had dropped into his humble shop for tea seemed to take the cake.

He had a rather small stature, of about one hundred and forty nine centimeters in height, but the sharpness of his face seemed to suggest that he was older then what his height showed. However, the way he carried himself, along with the look of knowledge beyond his years in his eyes...

Who was this kid, anyway?

In his hands, he held a large leather bound tome, the pages yellowed with time, and was filled with symbols and strange letterings that the old man couldn't possibly hope to understand. But, just like all his other customers, the young teenager finished the rest of his tea, and left, but not before leaving his payment on the table.

As the teenager passed by, the old man caught a flash of golden eyes, but just as soon as he saw it, it was gone, along with the young boy.

And just like anybody else, the old man continued with his day as usual, whistling. After all, what was one more strange person dropping in for tea?

* * *

An empty bed. That was the sight that greeted Sakura the very moment she stepped into the hospital room. The only person besides her was Naruto, who, was snoring away like a pig. Edward was nowhere to be found.

The small basket she had filled with medicine slipped from her numb fingers, spilling the contents to the ground.

 _Ed!_

Sakura felt as if the air was forced out of her lungs. What happened to the small blonde, who everyone had grown -Some grudgingly- attached to?

The first thing her brain came up with was that strange creature, Homunculous, as Ed called them. Was it them? Did they come for him in the middle of the night, whilst he and everyone else were unaware?

Sakura's blood run cold at the very thought, before she cursed under her breath, something she felt surprised about towards herself. Sakura hardly ever cursed, and only had several times which she could count on her fingers.

Taking several deep breaths in an attempt to calm herself down, she was able to see some things she hadn't seen in her previous panic. Neither Ed's clothes, nor his personal belongings were there, but his hospital clothes were. It meant that Ed took his clothes and left on his own free will.

But why?

Edward knew he wasn't safe out there. Not with someone after him. So why would he leave, and risk getting caught by those Homunculi people?

Sakura racked her brain frantically for possible answers, until she came across one particular memory from two days ago, just before that Envy character left.

" _Alright Fullmetal Pipsqueak. Three days, or we'll level this pathetic excuse of a village."_

That must have been why Ed left, Sakura slowly realized. He had wanted to keep them safe. But why? They could keep him safe. A thought struck her. These Homunculi were beings that non of them had ever faced before. They wouldn't know anything about their abilities, or their weaknesses. And that Envy character, he was able to regenerate despite having recieved a Rasengan to the face, something which would have killed most people.

Sakura had to tell Lady Tsunade.

Just before she went over to Naruto to drag him out of bed to accompany her, she noticed a glint of sliver from the floor. Feeling suprised, she moved over, and picked up the small object and inspected it, almost immediately recognizing it as the watch Ed always carried around. He must have dropped it...

Popping it into her pocket for safe keeping, Sakura did what she had to.

* * *

Tsunade listened to Sakura -And Naruto who had a rather large bump on his head, no thanks to Sakura- before she sighed and leaned back in her chair.

"So Edward left, huh?"

"Lady Tsunade, we have to look for him, he's in danger!" Sakura had absolutely no way to predict what Tsunade was going to say.

"There's not much we can do for him. Edward isn't a citizen, therefore I have no power over him, so I can't stop him if he wants to leave." Tsunade sighed, folding her hands in front of her.

"But-" Naruto started to protest, only for Tsunade to cut him off. "You may be worried about him, but there's noting I can do."

And that was that. The conversation was over, with no room for argument, which led to why Naruto was sitting at Ichiraku Ramen, waiting for his ramen while sulking -But not before Konohamaru chased him around under some ridiculous notion-.

"Bad day?" Tenchi asked Naruto as he prepared the ramen.

"Yeah..." Naruto muttered, slouching further into his seat as he thought about his new friend who recently left the village. First Sasuke, and now Ed! But on the bright side, at least Ed wasn't on some endless quest for vengeance and had left to train under a certain snake bastard.

That thought comforted him.

"Well, I'm sure some of my ramen will cheer you right up!" Tenchi grinned warmly at Naruto as he set down a bowl of steaming ramen in front of the blonde, who instantly brightened up at the sight of his favourite meal.

"I feel better already!" Naruto exclaimed, grinning one of his famous Uzumaki grins as he prepared to dig into the wondrous meal known as ramen. "Thank you for the-!"

Before he could finish his sentence, he poofed out of existence with a cloud of smoke, leaving the poor ramen shop owner blinking in surprise and shock at the seat Naruto had previously been seated in. "... H-he disappeared?" The old man stuttered out, barely managing to keep his composure.

* * *

"-food!" Naruto finished, unaware of what just took place as he broke his chopsticks apart before digging into what was most certainly not ramen. But close enough.

"Well, would cha' look at that, ma! I'm amazed, he just dug into the meal right away!" Lord Fukusaku commented, as Lady Shima clapped her hands together, a pleased smile on her face. "I'm so glad he likes my dishes!"

Naruto promptly turned a sickly shade of green. Ah, he was feeling awfully queasy...

* * *

"...What the...?" Naruto moaned pitifully after finishing emptying the contents of his stomach, much to Lady Shima's disappointment. "What am I doing here again...?"

"I used the reverse-summoning, Naruto boy." The old frog explained. "The great lord elder will divine your future, Naruto boy."

"Huh?" Naruto mumbled. "Divine?" Before he caught sight of Shima's dishes, once again feeling rather green.

"Come along now," Fukusaku said.

"NO, DON"T YOU DARE HURL-!" Shima started to say to Naruto before groaning loudly in exasperation, "Gah, my floor."

* * *

Elsewhere, a certain dark haired teenager had been passing through the Land of Waves, but not before pausing briefly to admire the scenery. For a fishing port, the village sure was busy. Of course, this was not the only thing that had caught his eye. The large bridge that stood imposingly over him caught interest. Not that it was any different from any other bridge in structure, the name of the bridge was certainly unique.

Smirking to himself, he made a mental note to ask Naruto about this. Of course, this could have only been a coincidence, but with the blond ninja, coincidences were highly unlikely. Which was why the teenager was willing to bet everything he had won in his previous Poker matches that Naruto had something to do with this.

But really though, could they get any less creative than the 'Great Naruto Bridge?'

Shrugging to himself, he adjusted the pack on his back once more for comfort, before moving with a destination in mind. The land of Fire had nothing more to offer to him, so if he wanted to get back home, he needed to leave behind any connections he had in this place, no matter how much it hurt, and just keep on moving forward. The Land of Water was next, or to be more accurate, the Hidden Mist Village.

Clenching a certain gloved hand that hid his disability, his golden eyes burned with determination.

Making his way down the bridge, he only stopped briefly to apologize for bumping into someone, not noticing how the person froze in his tracks, nor how he turned around fast enough to give himself a whiplash.

"It can't be...! He looks just like...!"

* * *

 **[A/N Um... Sorry for the late update...? Ehehe... I kinda accidentally deleted this chapter by mistake, and it took me a while to get motivated again. And actually, the original was much longer than this, but I decided to make this a transition chapter of sorts before I actually get the good stuff! By the way, I'm not actually following the plot of both franchises, since I didn't mention that before. And also, we'll find out why Ed can even use Chakra in the first place! And who is that mysterious person...? Actually, I have no idea either. I'm still deciding between two people~**

 **Tata, and sorry for the short chapter! Please don't kill me!**

 **~ Gwntan12**


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